My executors?

If you really want to leave the money to charity rather than their children I would tell them now. There will be more upset if they find out after you are dead.

No executor will be bound by a letter of wishes. You need to make specific provision in your will for what is to happen after your daughter dies. From what you describe, I would leave the executorship with the solicitors, who will administer your estate entirely fairly in accordance with your will; appointment of your stepdaughters may leave your daughter disadvantaged. Please see your solicitor and have your will amended so that the charitable bequests you want to make, and anything else contained in your letter of wishes, are legally binding.

A relative of mine died last year and his solicitor was the executor of his will. As I was the oldest living relative after my deceased relative I was sent a copy of my relatives will and he had left everything to two charities, his house, car, belongings, savings etc. etc. I was not at all upset about him leaving money to the charities and not to me as it was his money and belongings and his right to leave them to anyone he wanted to.

I think if the solicitor is the executor of the will then whatever you have written in the will when you took it out will be distributed to the people you want to have it and your solicitor would ensure that your child with the learning difficulties will be taken care of as he will hold on to the funds to ensure no-one else gets their hands on it. The solicitor has to ensure the money etc. goes where you have requested it to go, but if your step children are executors, you will never know if they will carry out your wishes after you die.

What germanshepherdsmum said.
My sister and I were co executors for my mother's will. There was no trouble as we wanted to adhere to my mother's wishes. Your step daughters may not!

It’s concerning your step children may only help your daughter if they are to benefit after her death, you may want to secure other assistance for her.

It’s also concerning that the stepdaughters want to be executors. They know your daughter is unlikely to challenge them.

Your daughter must be your priority.
' Listen' to GSM. Good luck.

My executor is also the solicitor and this is worrying me. I have included in the will what I want and which charities etc.

I just worry that they will send house clearance people in who will probably skip a lot of the house contents. Some of them could raise money by perhaps putting in an auction, selling, donating etc., but I assume this will not happen.

If you haven’t left specific items in your wills and your beneficiaries don’t want them then yes, the solicitor will instruct a house clearance company. You should identify any items of value and sell them now or leave them to named beneficiaries.

Thank you GSM. Will the house clearance company take to an auction or just skip?

I guess it depends on what the contents consist of. Why not contact a few, see what they say and you can request that the executor chooses the one you prefer. You can do that in a letter of wishes but such letters are not legally binding.

I also second what Germanshepherdsmum said.
I was co executor with my sister. My sister absolutely nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nothing. It was all left to me. All she did was hold out her hand for the money. And make unfounded accusations that I wouldn’t give her the money, even though after the sale of the flat it all went through a solicitor anyway.

We are in the process of selling my in laws possessions. They have been in boxes since 1998. We will also sell anything we know will cause a rift between our own DC after we are gone. I know something's hold memories but we have six DC and they can't all have the same item. I've scanned photos and other documents so they can all have copies. We will treat family to meals out etc. on the proceeds.

If you have things worth selling I would not leave it to a solicitor or house clearance. You can do good and donate the proceeds now.

I would tie your affairs up as best you can and stay with a solicitor as executor.

Roughly how much per hour do solicitors charge to execute an estate? I know it's an impossible guess, but can anyone GSM? give an approximate figure per hour?

FindingNemo15

Thank you GSM. Will the house clearance company take to an auction or just skip?

I have had to use house clearance twice for different relatives, one charged to clear the house as there was nothing much of value and the other paid the estate £250. I am sure if sold separately the items in the house would have raised about £2000 I did not have time to sort,sell and clear the rest of the house.

Thank you once again, everyone. I can now stand back and look at this more deeply. I shall stick with Solicitor only because it does leave nothing to chance.

Sparklefizz

Roughly how much per hour do solicitors charge to execute an estate? I know it's an impossible guess, but can anyone GSM? give an approximate figure per hour?

Hourly rates according to experience, the firm and geographical location. Many firms will agree a fixed fee or percentage of the value of the estate.

House clearance companies sift through what is in the house, they know their stuff, and they often run auctions as well. Taking stuff to landfill costs them money so if they can recycle, they will. Anything that can be sold for a profit will be sold.

Germanshepherdsmum

Sparklefizz

Roughly how much per hour do solicitors charge to execute an estate? I know it's an impossible guess, but can anyone GSM? give an approximate figure per hour?

Hourly rates according to experience, the firm and geographical location. Many firms will agree a fixed fee or percentage of the value of the estate.

Thank you.

Sparklefizz

Roughly how much per hour do solicitors charge to execute an estate? I know it's an impossible guess, but can anyone GSM? give an approximate figure per hour?

As far as I remember I paid the solicitor £300 an hour plus VAT. That was 3 years ago. He was pretty rubbish actually.

I fear that for £300, he probably was. A higher hourly rate should mean someone who is more experienced and efficient.

Germanshepherdsmum

It’s also concerning that the stepdaughters want to be executors. They know your daughter is unlikely to challenge them.

Indeed. Being an executor is not a pleasant task and I’d be very sceptical about why the step children are so keen to take it on.

No one should be named as executor if there’s the slightest doubt of their honesty and trustworthiness. One of my executors is my step daughter and I know she’ll do the bulk of the work but I place great trust in her.

Germanshepherdsmum

I fear that for £300, he probably was. A higher hourly rate should mean someone who is more experienced and efficient.

He was supposed to be an expert in Wills, Probate etc with several years experience. I thought it was a shocking amount of money for what he actually did.

I would look for more than ‘several years’ of experience. And on their websites they all claim to be experts. When we moved here and were looking to update our wills I looked at the local offerings and decided they were still in nappies (if actually born) when I qualified. A really uninspiring bunch. Then I found someone from a City firm that I knew well, who had moved here. I was happy to pay for the experience I knew he had.